When No Echo last checked in with Belgian hardcore band Sicko, they had just released Primal Hymns for the Unwell—a demo that quickly put them on the radar. Since then, the band has stayed active, building momentum in the only way that really matters to them: in the room.
“We’ve played some very cool shows off that demo and garnered attention from unexpected angles,” vocalist Laurens tells No Echo. “Support shows for bigger bands are fine, but getting a bunch of maniacs together in a dingy basement is ultimately what we do it for. Those numbers don’t matter if your shows are boring.”
That period also brought a lineup shift. Original guitarist Gluck, who co-wrote the demo and their new EP, Fever Running Wild, left shortly after recording, and was replaced by Kenzo, a former bandmate of Laurens from Lustrous. The band initially aimed to move quickly on new material, but as Laurens puts it, “life got in the way—or rather, the passing of it.”
The aforementioned Fever Running Wild EP sharpens Sicko’s sound while digging deeper into the themes that have defined them from the start. At its core, the record is driven by tension between isolation and connection. “The most dominant theme is an antisocial one,” Laurens explains, “which stands in contrast to finding connection in cultural fringes through embracing our primal urges.”
That push and pull runs throughout the record, with alienation still front and center. But Fever Running Wild also expands outward, particularly on “War Is God,” which marks the band’s first direct engagement with political subject matter. “It just felt right to have a song about war over a d-beat,” Laurens says. The track takes aim at what he describes as Europe’s inaction in the face of ongoing humanitarian crises just beyond its borders.
Visually, the EP’s artwork reflects that same sense of unease. Designed by Thomas (well.dweller) of Tormented Imp, the cover builds on the band’s original concept of “a sick guy running wild in suburban streets,” but pushes it into more ambiguous territory. “It begs the question of who the real sicko is,” Laurens says. “Is it the obvious one with the bandages, or the well-integrated white-collar person exploiting others?”
He also sees a more psychological reading: someone who follows the expected path, only to find themselves deeply unfulfilled. “What if the life they sell you turns out to kind of suck?” he asks, before quickly undercutting the analysis. “I feel like I’m overexplaining it—it’s whatever you want it to be. You can just look at the pretty colors.”
When No Echo asks Laurens has been been listening to as of late, he brings up Blood Bubble, Flux, Listed, and Meat Shield. More recent releases from Poison Ruïn and Spiritual Law have also caught his attention.
With Fever Running Wild now out, Sicko are focused on staying active and bringing the new material to as many rooms as possible. “We’re trying to play as many shows as we can now that the record is out,” Laurens says. A vinyl release—and an accompanying release show—is also on the way.
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